Broken heart

Woke up to a beautiful sunny day, Levi and I were off to Agility this morning... we had a great day, and he is getting better... slow but is doing all i ask... did some quick shopping, left the truck running with AC going just for his highness, would hate to be arrested for dog abuse...

Came home to very sad news, my old Red border collie "Meg" has passed away... or as many doggy people say, "Crossed over the rainbow bridge..." She was 13 years old and had been in really good shape, she had lost some weight, she was feeling good, acting goofy... and ate all her supper last night...Larry found her beside her dog house... she was a silly old girl, never much of a sheep dog, just a good dog..it was funny the other day one of Joe's friends was here helping him work on his shack, and she came at him, "grinning, sneezing, and clacking her teeth" and he jumped into the horse trailer terrified that she was attacking him...she had never bitten a soul in her life..we are still laughing over that one...  We had one litter of pups from her, and that was a hassle, she won't stand to be bred, she would rip off the face of any male dog that come near her..so we artificially inseminated her, and she had a nice litter of 5 red pups.. she was a good mom, but the hormones never did kick in, she still won't be bred... so we had her spayed..never much of a people dog, just a good family dog... her buddy Mackie will be lonely as they shared the barn yard... I am always glad when the dogs choose their own time, then I don't have to make the decision...
Really hot today, love my Swamp Cooler, I sure don't know why they don't sell them in Canada, they are so much better than an air conditioner.. Swamp cooler doesn't keep the house as cold as a AC, but it is about 8 degrees cooler than the outside..and so much better for your health and the environment as they just use cold water.... stay cool          

Willy the old pussy cat

Just changed my blog picture.... forgot to change it beginning of July... this is Willy our very old cat... he is about 13-14 years old....  Willy came into our lives with a big fat lie (by me)... I told the family that i found him on the drive way... actually i had been visiting a friend and she didn't like him as he beat up their other house cat... he was all of 8 weeks old...so we only  had two cats at the time, and my plan was he was suppose to be the barn cat... yupp that lasted about a month....Matt used to pack him  around in his winter jacket, and of course as soon as it got cold, Matt moved him into the house... he has been a good old cat, a good mouser, and affectionate... now that he is really old.. he stays in the house,(hate cat litter boxes).. and has turned very noisy..even the parrot gets annoyed at him... Willie howls, and I yell at him and tell him to shut up... now the parrot yells at him as soon as he howls.. just too funny..
Finally got the chickens butchered... they are a bit smaller than last year, but just big enough for us  3.5 pounds to 5 pounds... just big enough... I had bought some Lotto Max tickets and Larry wanted me to check them before we started doing chickens on Saturday, i told him, nope... if i won, i would never pluck another chicken in my life..well of course i didn't win..
My baby boy called last night and i gave him a rough time about not phoning me more often... he told me if i kept up on my blog, he would know what was going on and never phone me..brat...but i love ya....
We had a pot luck up at Andrea's last week..it was a great sunny day and we spent the whole time outside... good food as usually, one of the girls made balaclava, and my god was it good... best i have ever tried..going to get the recipe from her... Clara also made a peanut butter chocolate pie and it was really good, I made one, but didn't turn out as good as hers..oh well, will try again..
I have been picking currants this week, got half a water bucket today, and hardly made a dint in the patch..I  have to go into the middle of the patch and find the red currants, they make such good jelly... think i will ribbon the bushes and get Larry to dig them out and move them..so they are easier to find... they so much softer than the black ones... think i will check out to see who wants to pick some berries... also got the first raspberries, and they are so tasty... and i ate all the cherries all 9 of them... too cold a spring, but my peach tree is loaded... hopefully they will ripen..

Levi had a good agility class on Tuesday, he does have his moments of brilliance, and i must dwell on them... he sure has taught me patience...we had a semi private class on Tuesday, and it is so much more fun... and we get to work on the dogs problems and don't feel guilty taking up more than our share of the instructor's time..  several of the group are going to the Agility Nationals in Calgary beginning of August, i sure hope they do well.. Denise and I are starting to think about the next trial.. one the end of August, one the beginning of Sept, and one in October in Armstrong and one in Cloverdale then too..so we have to decide... her little Pip is a fair weather dog, he hates heat and rain...  Down loaded this picture of perennial fuchsia, but the program won't let me move it... oh well...  I have started another shawl..not sure if the intended reciepent reads my blog, so won't say who it is for..of course i had to "frog" it...just wasn't big enough and i was two stitches out oh well... it is an easy pattern, and is easy to follow..so am just ready to start the pattern rows today...nice and calming before i go to bed....  take care and i will try to write soon.................   S..........

Too much excitement for this old brain

Hi... We had way too much excitement last night...good friend and neighbour down the road called about 10:30 last night... there was a fire up behind their house... they have 17 acres that borders on the Reserve...and they(the reserve residents) haven't done anything with the bug killed trees, anyway... there is an old log house just up behind their place, apparently the young local residents go up there to smoke their pot... and must have started the fire.... John and Peg had been smelling smoke for a couple of hours, but no sign of smoke or fire... one of the other neighbours spotted it, and called Peg and John.... and they called us looking for help...there are several young fire fighters in the area... on the reserve and a neighbour boy (young man now)so they started fighting  the fire, then the local firefighters from the Native Firehall showed up, and told everyone to back up as it was a structure fire and everyone had to back up 100 feet, and they just let it burn...it was pretty scary for us locals, as the ground is covered in dead dry pine needles.  Then the rest of the Fire fighters from the fire fighter camp showed up..and all they did was take pictures and write in their note book... anyway Larry went back down to Peg and John's this morning and the fire was out... sure hope so as we have had wind all day... good thing it was yesterday and not today...I am sure the whole reserve would have gone up in smoke... the wind usually blows from the west, which means the fire would have gone away from us...just too scary for us.... we won't have had time to get anything out if it had gotten away... the bird, the dogs and the cats... and my spinning wheel... one of them anyway...  just way to scary for this old broad... that has been as close as we have gotten to losing this place... and of course we don't have any insurance...cuz, they didn't like our heating system (very safe, not in the house system that burns wood), the cost of stove oil and the insurance was way too expensive for us.. Got 10 chickens butchered yesterday, but we slept in this morning, went to bed way after midnight...so tomorrow we get at it again.......... have a great one......

I forgot

Morning... i just remember I forgot something really important happened when I was in Lavington..I was sitting waiting for my turn to run, and a lady came up to me and asked me if I had noticed that she had been looking at my dog... I, of course, hadn't paid any attention to her as there are always people looking at dogs..my first thought was that Levi was her dog and that she had lost him and she wanted him back... . I said no, she asked me how long i had owned him, again my radar perked up, I said i had him for a year and that his name was Levi, she dropped to her knees and threw her arms around her neck, and said "Levi, it is you"... apparently she had been his foster mom for 6 months when he had been at the SPCA in Vernon... he did recognize her, and her dog (apparently Levi and her pooch were best buds while he lived with her)... she said he had been the 'Dog from Hell'... no manners, he got on the counter, and the kitchen table... won't come when called, she said that she usually put her new foster dogs into kennels at night, she said he was like a cat, all 4 feet against the kennel, and that her and her hubby couldn't get him into the kennel, and that he was the original escape artist (which he still is, he finds a hole under the fence, we block it and he finds another one).. so Dee was another home that we didn't know about...so that makes us his 5th home by the time he was 18 months old... we figure that we have been the longest home he has had in his short 2.5 years...it was very interesting learning about her trials with him... he does have better manners these days... although he does love to love to sleep on the sofa... and he did get into the other dogs' feed the other night, and did he fart up a storm..he just can't handle any grains in his feed...   so of course he gets the most expensive feed in town....
Off to town to pay the property taxes today... and the water license..  have a great weekend......... S